Teens being primed as terrorists in the UK....

A disburbing report from the Head of MI5...

Extremists are grooming children and teenagers to plot terrorist attacks against Britain, the director of the domestic spy agency said in a rare public speech Monday.

Jonathan Evans, who became head of MI5 agency in April, also warned that vital resources needed to tackle terrorism are being diverted to counter the espionage threat from Russia and China.

"Terrorists are methodically and intentionally targeting young people and children in this country," Evans said, according to text of his remarks delivered in Manchester, England. "They are radicalizing, indoctrinating and grooming young, vulnerable people to carry out acts of terrorism."

"This year, we have seen individuals as young as 15 and 16 implicated in terrorist-related activity," he said.

Evans' remarks before a newspaper editors' conference were his first public speech since becoming director-general of MI5.

His predecessor, Eliza Manningham-Buller, warned in a speech in November 2006 that her agents were tracking around 30 terror plots and keeping 1,600 suspects under surveillance.

"That figure today would be at least 2,000," Evans said.

The growth is partly down to better coverage of extremist networks, but "also because there remains a steady flow of new recruits to the extremist cause," he said.

The uncomfortable truth is attacks attempted against Britain "are not simply random plots by disparate and fragmented groups," Evans said.

"The majority of these attacks, successful or otherwise, have taken place because al-Qaida has a clear determination to mount terrorist attacks against the United Kingdom," he said.